The application concerns the allegedly unjustified extension in November 2010 of the time-limit for lodging an appeal against the judgment of the Kyiv Regional Commercial Court of 24\u00a0March 2010 finding for the applicant company in its claim to title to use rights over several plots of land, the quashing of that judgment and the dismissal of the claim.<\/p>\n
The Court has already found violations of that provision regarding similar complaints of unjustified extension of time-limits for lodging appeals in civil cases, including when it concerned a delay of around six months. In the present case too, when granting the requested extension of the appeal time-limit the appellate court simply endorsed the deputy prosecutor\u2019s argument \u2013 that the time-limit had been missed for \u201cjustifiable reasons\u201d, as he had become aware of the judgment of 24 March 2010 around six months later, without having verified whether he or generally the authorities, including the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Skvyra District Administration, on behalf of which he had lodged the appeal, could have been informed of the judgment earlier.<\/p>\n
Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article 6 \u00a7 1 of the Convention in the present case on account of the lack of proper justification for granting an extension to the time-limit for appealing.<\/p>\n
Full text of the document.<\/em><\/p>\n European Court of Human Rights This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.<\/p>\n In the case of Skvyrasilrybgosp, VAT v. Ukraine,<\/strong><\/p>\n The European Court of Human Rights (Fifth Section), sitting as a Committee composed of: Having deliberated in private on 9 November 2023,<\/p>\n Delivers the following judgment, which was adopted on that date:<\/p>\n SUBJECT MATTER OF THE CASE\u200b<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. The application concerns the allegedly unjustified extension in November 2010 of the time-limit for lodging an appeal against the judgment of the Kyiv Regional Commercial Court of 24\u00a0March 2010 finding for the applicant company in its claim to title to use rights over several plots of land, the quashing of that judgment and the dismissal of the claim. The applicant company complains of a violation of Article\u00a06\u00a0\u00a7\u00a01 of the Convention and Article\u00a01 of Protocol No.\u00a01 on that account.<\/p>\n 2. On 21\u00a0October 2010 the Deputy Prosecutor of the Kyiv Region lodged an appeal with the Kyiv Commercial Court of Appeal on behalf of the Skvyra District Administration, a party to the proceedings, against the above\u2011mentioned judgment of 24 March 2010, arguing that the State had retained the use rights to the land. The deputy prosecutor also requested an extension of the then applicable ten-day time-limit for lodging an appeal, stating that he had been informed of the judgment by the Office of the General Prosecutor on 11\u00a0October 2010. By a procedural ruling of 8\u00a0November 2010, the appellate court granted the extension requested, finding that the time-limit had been missed for \u201cjustifiable reasons\u201d. No further details were given in that regard. On 14\u00a0December 2010 the same court quashed the judgment of 24\u00a0March 2010, having disagreed with the first-instance court\u2019s findings. According to the appellate court, in 1999 a local council had allocated the contested land to a State company for permanent use. Having been privatised in 2000, the State company had ceased to exist and had been transformed into the applicant company. However, pursuant to the relevant domestic law, the applicant company had not acquired the right of permanent use of the land in question, which had been terminated when its predecessor had ceased to exist. Nor had the applicant company registered any title to the land in the meantime. On 23\u00a0February 2011 the Higher Commercial Court upheld the appellate court\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n 3. According to the Government\u2019s submissions of 5\u00a0December 2022, the applicant company continued using the land at issue.<\/p>\n THE COURT\u2019S ASSESSMENT<\/strong><\/p>\n I. ALLEGEDLY UNJUSTIFIED EXTENSION OF the appeal time\u2011limit<\/strong><\/p>\n 4. The applicant company complained under Article\u00a06\u00a0\u00a7\u00a01 of the Convention that the appellate court had unlawfully extended the time-limit for lodging the deputy prosecutor\u2019s appeal against the judgment of the Kyiv Regional Commercial Court of 24\u00a0March 2010.<\/p>\n 5. The Government disagreed, contending that the time-limit for lodging an appeal had been lawfully extended after a short delay, and that this had been justified by the need to correct the erroneous judgment of the first-instance court.<\/p>\n 6. The Court notes that this complaint is not manifestly ill-founded within the meaning of Article 35 \u00a7 3 (a) of the Convention or inadmissible on any other grounds. It must therefore be declared admissible.<\/p>\n 7. The general principles concerning the rights guaranteed by Article\u00a06 \u00a7\u00a01 of the Convention in cases of extension of procedural time\u2011limits have been summarized in, among other authorities, Ponomaryov v.\u00a0Ukraine (no.\u00a03236\/03, \u00a7\u00a7\u00a040-41, 3\u00a0April 2008) and Ustimenko v.\u00a0Ukraine (no.\u00a032053\/13, \u00a7\u00a7\u00a046-47, 29 October 2015).<\/p>\n 8. The Court has already found violations of that provision regarding similar complaints of unjustified extension of time-limits for lodging appeals in civil cases, including when it concerned a delay of around six months (see Ponomaryov, \u00a7\u00a042,\u00a0and Ustimenko, \u00a7\u00a7\u00a049-54, both cited above, and also Sabadash v. Ukraine [Committee], no. 28052\/13, \u00a7\u00a7 30-34, 23\u00a0July 2019). In the present case too, when granting the requested extension of the appeal time-limit the appellate court simply endorsed the deputy prosecutor\u2019s argument \u2013 that the time-limit had been missed for \u201cjustifiable reasons\u201d, as he had become aware of the judgment of 24 March 2010 around six months later, without having verified whether he or generally the authorities, including the Office of the Prosecutor General and the Skvyra District Administration, on behalf of which he had lodged the appeal, could have been informed of the judgment earlier (see paragraph 2 above).<\/p>\n 9. Accordingly, there has been a violation of Article\u00a06\u00a0\u00a7\u00a01 of the Convention in the present case on account of the lack of proper justification for granting an extension to the time-limit for appealing.<\/p>\n II. REMAINING COMPLAINTS<\/strong><\/p>\n 10. The applicant company also complained under Article\u00a06 \u00a7\u00a01 of the Convention and Article\u00a01 of Protocol\u00a0No.\u00a01 to the Convention that the judgment of the Kyiv Regional Commercial Court of 24\u00a0March 2010, which was favourable to it, had been quashed for no acceptable reason and its claim to the disputed land had been unlawfully dismissed by the appellate court on 14\u00a0December 2010.<\/p>\n 11. The Court notes that that claim was limited to contesting the domestic courts\u2019 factual findings and the legal assessment of the applicant company\u2019s claim and does not appear to be duly substantiated or persuasive. The Court\u2019s above finding that the extension of the appeal time-limit was in violation of Article\u00a06 \u00a7\u00a01, which preceded the quashing at issue, does not mean that the subsequent examination of the merits of the deputy prosecutor\u2019s appeal was deficient or unlawful (see, mutatis mutandis,\u00a0Ukraine-Tyumen v.\u00a0Ukraine, no.\u00a022603\/02, \u00a7 52, 22\u00a0November 2007, and Industrial Financial Consortium Investment Metallurgical Union v.\u00a0Ukraine, no.\u00a010640\/05, \u00a7\u00a0198, 26\u00a0June 2018). The applicant company did not argue that it had been denied the opportunity effectively to pursue its claim before the appellate and cassation courts and there is no basis for a finding that the proceedings before those courts were flawed to the extent that their outcome could not be accepted (compare and contrast with Sovtransavto Holding v. Ukraine, no. 48553\/99, \u00a7\u00a7 97-98, ECHR 2002\u2011VII, and Agrokompleks v.\u00a0Ukraine, no.\u00a023465\/03, \u00a7\u00a7\u00a0135, 138 and 170, 6\u00a0October\u00a02011; see, for a somewhat similar case, Sabadash, cited above, \u00a7\u00a7\u00a041-44).<\/p>\n 12. It follows that this part of the application must be rejected as manifestly ill\u2011founded in accordance with Article\u00a035 \u00a7\u00a7 3 (a) and\u00a04 of the Convention.<\/p>\n APPLICATION OF ARTICLE 41 OF THE CONVENTION<\/strong><\/p>\n 13. The applicant company claimed 1\u00a0euro\u00a0(EUR) in respect of non\u2011pecuniary damage.<\/p>\n 14. The Government contended that the claim had to be dismissed.<\/p>\n 15. The Court considers that, in the present circumstances, the finding of a violation of Article 6\u00a0\u00a7\u00a01 of the Convention in itself constitutes adequate just satisfaction for the purposes of Article 41.<\/p>\n FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT, UNANIMOUSLY,<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Declares the complaint under Article 6\u00a0\u00a7\u00a01 of the Convention concerning the allegedly unjustified extension of the appeal time-limit in the applicant company\u2019s case admissible and the remainder of the application inadmissible;<\/p>\n 2. Holds that there has been a violation of Article 6 \u00a7\u00a01 of the Convention;<\/p>\n 3. Holds that the finding of a violation constitutes in itself sufficient just satisfaction for any non-pecuniary damage sustained by the applicant company.<\/p>\n Done in English, and notified in writing on 30 November 2023, pursuant to Rule\u00a077\u00a0\u00a7\u00a7\u00a02 and 3 of the Rules of Court.<\/p>\n Martina Keller \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 M\u0101rti\u0146\u0161 Mits
\nFIFTH SECTION
\nCASE OF SKVYRASILRYBGOSP, VAT v. UKRAINE<\/strong>
\n(Application no. 27128\/11)<\/em>
\nJUDGMENT
\nSTRASBOURG
\n30 November 2023<\/p>\n
\nM\u0101rti\u0146\u0161 Mits, President,
\nMar\u00eda El\u00f3segui,
\nKate\u0159ina \u0160im\u00e1\u010dkov\u00e1, judges,
\nand Martina Keller, Deputy Section Registrar,
\nHaving regard to:
\nthe application (no.\u00a027128\/11) against Ukraine lodged with the Court under Article 34 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (\u201cthe Convention\u201d) on 18 April 2011 by a Ukrainian joint-stock company, Skvyrasilrybgosp, VAT, eventually transformed into a limited liability company, Skvyraplemrybgosp,\u00a0TOV (\u201cthe applicant company\u201d) represented by Mr M. Mykolyuk, a lawyer practising in Kyiv;
\nthe decision to give notice of the application to the Ukrainian Government (\u201cthe Government\u201d), represented by their Agent, most recently Ms\u00a0M.\u00a0Sokorenko, of the Ministry of Justice;
\nthe parties\u2019 observations;<\/p>\n
\nDeputy Registrar \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 President<\/p>\n